


Volume 3--Iron Man's Origin

by LeoCharlesM



Series: Marvel's Avengers INFINITIES: Earth-6116 [3]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Iron Man (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Earth-6116, Original Work, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Bruce Banner as Iron Man - Freeform, Gen, Marvel Comics - Freeform, Marvel Earth-6116 - Freeform, Marvel Universe, Original Fiction, Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22231306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoCharlesM/pseuds/LeoCharlesM
Summary: Welcome to Earth-6116, a special dimension in the Marvel Multiverse that is just like our world: There are no superheroes, nor super villains to oppose them. The Watcher guarding this peaceful world, Nan'c, has a vision of a menacing doom approaching from the farthest regions of the cosmos. The Earth will need the Avengers if there is any hope of survival.Volume 3 is about Robert "Bruce" Banner and his fight with his older brother David, CEO of Banner Industries. After a betrayal that leaves the younger Banner broken and depressed, he learns that in losing everything, he finds himself. Read as Bruce attempts to outwit his backstabbing brother, and regain control of his family company with the help of his Iron Man armor.
Relationships: Bruce Banner as Iron Man
Series: Marvel's Avengers INFINITIES: Earth-6116 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579216
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Brotherly Love

"What do you mean, 'David is taking Banner Industries public'?" Robert Banner shouts into his cell phone so hard that little drops of spit splash across the screen. "Obadiah, I am stuck in traffic, I'll be at the tower in ten minutes. You have to stall him until I get there, I don't care what you have to do. Please—shit!"

His phone dies mid sentence and he throws it to the floor of his car. The New York City traffic is predictably atrocious this morning. If he could only get past midtown he'd be able to park and just hoof it. Nevertheless, it takes him sixteen minutes to make it to the entrance of Banner Tower. Obadiah Stane is waiting for him with a pair of security guards flanking him. The mentor of both the Banner brothers looks sad, though he smiles anyway at Robert's approach.

"I did everything I could," he whispers as he embraces Robert. When they straighten up, he uses his full voice. "Your brother is waiting for you in the penthouse, he sent us—" Obadiah waves his hand at the two armed guards. "—To escort you."

"Shouldn't be necessary, I know where the elevator is all by my own, but thanks." Robert tries to brush past the trio, but the guards won't budge. "You gonna get out of my way, or do I have to fire your ass?"

"That's not exactly—Listen, Robert, just come upstairs." Obadiah's practically begging. "This is not the place for a conversation like this."

Reluctantly, Robert follows them to the elevator and joins them for the ride to the very top of the second tallest building in the city. A Muzak version of an AC/DC song plays in the background. Robert grows dizzier by the second, not from a fear of heights, but from the enormity of his brother's betrayal. "Obadiah, how could you let this happen?"

"I didn't," he says, looking Robert right in the eyes.

The doors open and only Robert steps out of the elevator. He does not look back. The penthouse office is spacious yet almost entirely closed off. Dark steel walls and tiny porthole-sized windows make the vaunted ceilings appear cramped and claustrophobic. The lighting is low and neon, save for one massive beacon at the back of the space that looks like a jumbotron.

"What is this?" Robert's eyes are glued to the gigantic video screen mounted high on the wall behind his brother's desk. The screen is playing a video of Robert in his lab. "David, what have you done?"

"Shhh, shh, shh—" David walks backwards so he can keep watching the screen behind him. David is the taller, handsomer and more charming of the Banner brothers. His dark hair is perfectly cut and styled, he wears the hell out of a Tom Ford three-piece, and exudes an air of overconfidence that screams affluence and privilege. "This is my favorite part, you're gonna miss it."

On the massive screen overhead, Robert is looking into the camera and narrating; behind him the Arc Reactor begins to power up, illuminating everything in an electric blue hue. Robert has the slighter frame of the Banner boys, an unassuming gait, and is introverted in any setting that isn't a laboratory.

" _I've always believed that it was my father, Bruce Banner, who intended to complete Nikola Tesla's legacy and provide free, safe and renewable energy to the world. Science like this can change lives. The scientific community, and especially everyone here at the Bruce Banner Institute, believe that there is no progress without moral accountability. This reactor is going to change everything for the best."_

"'Going to change everything for the best.'" David echoes and turns to face his younger brother. "You know, Brucey, I almost buy your sanctimonious bull shit."

"Don't call me that, you son of a bitch," Robert wants to scream.

"Careful about the way you talk about Mom—" David attempts to put his arm over his brother's shoulders, but Robert shoves him off.

"Why does Obadiah think you're taking Banner Industries public?" Robert won't be distracted. "You don't have my votes, you and the Board cannot do this without my…"

"You think you have a vote?!" David exclaims. He throws back his head to cackle like a villain in a Disney movie. "Who told you that? That's friggen hilarious. But no, you were hardly ever more than an employee."

"If you think I'm not going to fight you on this…" Robert begins but David waves him off like a fly at a picnic.

"Name a lawyer that's going to take your side against me, go ahead." David reaches into the breast pocket of his sport coat and pulls out a white envelope. "Banner Industries would like to thank you for your time with us and we wish you nothing but success in your future endeavors."

"David, the Arc Reactor technology belongs…"

"To Banner Industries, which I am the CEO of."

"It belongs to humanity you soulless hobgoblin. What the hell is wrong with you? You're firing me, and I assume my entire team—?"

"Of course they're fired," David says as he hands him the letter.

"Just to make some money?" Robert crumples the envelope and stuffs it into his back pocket.

"Not to make 'some money,' no, Brucey. I'm going to make _all_ the money. You've just taken Banner Industries into the 22nd century, while the rest of the world is just setting their clocks to 2020. The energy race is over, we won. Not the Americans, not the Russians, not China or Germany, but Banner Industries, bro. And I am chief executive officer—do you get it?"

"You cannot possibly think that I'm going to let you use my data to undermine world governments…" Robert begins, but then it dawns on him. "Which is why you have security guards escorting me. You're stealing everything and buying enough stock to keep you permanently in control of dad's company."

"It's my company, Brucey, you're just the last person on the planet to figure it out."

David nods and suddenly a pair of hands are pulling Robert back into the elevator. He struggles at first but by the time the elevator doors close the fight's gone out of him. Obadiah refuses to make eye contact, but Robert doesn't care. They exit the elevator and the guards push Robert till he's outside the building and on the sidewalk. The old man shakes his head and says, "I'm sorry, Robert. I wish there was something I could do."

"He's locked me out of the whole system by now." Robert is exasperated and fears a migraine might be coming on. "He's an asshole, but he's not stupid. How can I fight him if he's got all my tech and more money than God?"

"You can't beat him by fighting him on his terms. You always knew that—so why did you stop?" Obadiah says and offers his hand. "Take care, Robert. I wish you nothing but success."

"Where have I heard that before?" Robert lifts the crumpled envelope from his back pocket, tears it open to find a single, black and white picture of their father, Bruce Banner, shaking hands with his father, Robert Banner Sr..

#


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Chapter 2, Bruce brings together a group that can help him take down David. How much more betrayal can one Banner endure?

"Scott, it's been a long time." Robert extends a hand. He's nervous but he has to seem like he's confident, look people in the eye and inspire. "I hope the flight here wasn't too stressful."

"Good to see you again, Robert," Scott says as he shakes his hand vigorously. "You know how international flights can be."

"Especially when you're not in the country legally, yeah, I get it." Robert takes Scott's bag for him. "Thanks for coming, I promise I'll make this worth your while."

Robert waves at the driver, Rick, and the car takes off down the city street. It's nighttime but the streetlights have the block lit up. Robert and Scott walk side by side up to the brownstone, two-story. "Haven't seen you since what, Phoenix '07, right? The NASA RoboComp. Your team blew up nearly a quarter of the ceiling aperture, if memory serves."

Robert laughs at the image as he unlocks the door. "That was a wild weekend—Careful as you go. Sorry, my brother sent his goons to retrieve any Banner Tech I had lying around. I give him credit—" He pauses to face Scott. "My brother is nothing if not thorough. That's why we need to be smart and work together."

"Your brother?" Scott follows him into the ransacked home. "Holy crap, Robert. It looks like someone took your house, flipped it upside down and shook. You're telling me David did this? CEO of Banner Industries, David Banner? Why? How? Uhh, why again?"

"Mr. Lang, join us." A voice echoes from the sitting room down the hall. Robert nods in that direction and heads off. Scott follows him into a wood-grained office with an ornate sycamore table bisecting it. Two men are sitting and a third stands as they enter.

"Scott Lang, this is my friend and colleague, Dr. Leo Skivorski. He worked with me up until three days ago when my brother pulled off his coup of Banner Industries."

"Please," the long-haired Skivorski offers a powerful, big-handed handshake, "call me Doc."

"This pale son-of-a-bitch right here is another RoboComp '07 alumni, Tony Vanko. He's—"

"I'm the only reason Robert's ever invented anything," Vanko interrupts and reaches out to grasp Scott's hand. He has a deliberate way of speaking that hints at his Eastern European background, but his English is flawless. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lang. I mean that. I respect your efforts getting the Panama Papers released."

"Oh well, I don't know how important I was in the whole affair." Scott blushes and turns to face the third man. "And I think I know you already. You're Pete Maximoff, right?"

"The one and only," Robert says and takes a seat. "If I'm not my brother's nemesis, then Pete is."

"Good to meet you Mr. Lang," Pete says in a harsh, Russian accent. "I met David nearly a decade past. He arranged a grant for my foundation, then helped me start my own foundation. We had this crazy idea that you could use corporate funds for medical research with no strings attached."

"But, of course—" Robert intimates that Scott should take a seat as well. "Now, everyone in this room knows better than that. David had Pete's company stripped down like an old Toyota in a junkyard, the moment they fought back against profitability quotas."

"So you broke into your own lab and burned it to the ground?" Scott says and earns a chuckle from the table.

"Went to prison for six years for refusing to answer that, Scott," Pete says with a smirk. "I'm not about to, now."

"I respect that," Lang says and turns to face Robert. "So, what's the job?"

"We're going to break in to my old lab," Robert declares, "and burn it to the ground."

#

"Scott and I are in my lab now," Robert says into the radio. "Doc has the security servers down the hall. How much time did your sister say her friends can buy us, Pete?"

Robert is unscrewing a panel in the base of the massive, glowing Arc Reactor with a miniature hand drill. Scott has his own job to do, and is clicking away on two separate keyboards simultaneously like a mad man. Vanko, if all is going well, should be cutting power to the lab within the next ninety seconds. Pete was the way in, and will be the way out.

"Long enough," Pete's voice comes through Robert's earpiece barely above a whisper. "Don't panic now, get that solenoid reversed and the magnet rack deactivated. Antony should be at the generator any second now."

The radio goes silent, but Robert is too focused to notice. He's reversing the work of the last ten years of his life, and he's got seconds to finish.

"Robert," Scott stops what he's doing. "You should come look at this."

"What?" Robert says as he strips a wire with his teeth. "I'm a little busy, you know?"

"He's building robots," Scott's voice is thin and quivers. "He's got an entire legion of robotic drones. Your brother is going to weaponize the Arc Reactor."

"Not if we finish the job," Robert says, but his heart is beating so much faster now it's making his fingers rattle. He reaches up and swipes sweat from his brow. "We're so close, just one more wire and I'm good."

"He was right. Pete said this wouldn't be enough…" Scott is frantically typing, faster than before, and talking to himself. "There's no other way. It has to be like this."

"Scott, what are you talking about?" Robert shouts over his shoulder. If he could only finish this damn rewire.

"I'm sorry, Robert," Scott says. "No one man should have this much power. I'm purging it."

After a final keystroke, Scott lifts the computer monitor before him and smashes it on the floor behind him. A blaring alarm sounds overhead and flashing lights spill into the lab from down the hall. Scott picks up the second monitor at the terminal and smashes it as well.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Robert panics. He abandons the final wire and tries to restrain Scott. "This technology can save the world from…"

Scott sucker-punches him, then catches Robert before he hits the floor.

"Did you know?" Scott holds Robert tight by the collar. "Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't know David was making an armada."

"I didn't know—" Robert shouts, but hesitates. "I didn't, but I had to suspect. I still wanted to believe there was some good left in my brother."

Scott doesn't know what to say, so he drops Robert and runs for it. Alone in the lab, Robert is reeling and his nose gushes blood. "Pete—Come in, Pete?"

"I'm sorry, Robert," Pete responds in full voice through the radio. "I want to trust you, but, you're a Banner."

The radio is dead, but Robert screams into it for a while nonetheless. Suddenly the lab goes from the electric blue hue of the Arc Reactor, to an impossibly bright white. Like the Sun itself landed in the middle stories of Banner Tower—Robert's eyelids aren't thick enough to block out the light. An electric crackling fills his whole world, before a final, overwhelming boom makes it disappear entirely.

#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and rating part 2/4 of this origin story. Make sure you check out part 3 and leave kudos if you're enjoying!


	3. Wake Up, Bruce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Robert Banner is at the end of his rope, he finds new life and courage as Bruce Banner (with the help of everyone's favorite Watcher).

"Wake up, Bruce Banner," a woman's voice calls to him through the dark.

"What happened?" Robert awakes flailing and being restrained by a pair of nurses in a hospital bed. "Where is he?"

"Sir, please stop wriggling," a nurse shrieks. "If you rip out that needle, I'll make the next one hurt."

"Where is he?"

"Where is who, sir?" the other nurse asks. Both have full radiation suits on and speak through voice modulators. "You've said half a dozen people's names in your sleep."

"Where is David?" Robert lies back, tears in his eyes. He realizes he can't feel the bottom half of his body. He jolts upward and looks down, terrified that he might be missing some part of his legs, but is struck by a worse sight. "Why are there wires hooked into my chest? What is that contraption?"

His heart starts thumping harder in his chest and it sends spikes of pain with each beat. It's terrible and terrifying. He quickly looks around the room to get his bearings. When he does it makes his belly drop. He's not in a hospital room at all. It's a makeshift medical station set up in the wreckage of his Arc Reactor lab.

"Where are you?" Robert growls.

"I'm everywhere, Brucey." David's voice booms through the overhead speakers, echoing through the demolished chamber. The walls are charred black, and twisted metal frays the floor, walls and ceiling. The only part of the room not covered in scars and burns is Banner's bed and the equipment keeping him alive. "You should be thanking me."

Robert looks at his hands and sees they're covered in burns that haven't healed yet. "It's been, what, a day or two? You've already turned this place into a prison?"

"I'm nothing, if not thorough," David says in a way that's dripping with irony. "Right, Brucey?"

"Don't call me that." Robert's nurses leave him and walk through a metal door that requires an ID card to operate. As far as he can tell, it's the only way in or out of the metal hellscape. "Are you going to tell me what happened, or just gloat?"

"I thought you were the one in charge of this little mission?" David scoffs.

"I thought so too," Robert says quietly, but doesn't really care if David hears it.

"Someone must have got their wires crossed?" David chuckles again. "Anyway, you succeeded in destroying the Arc Reactor and the only people with the knowledge necessary to rebuild it are either dead or fired and not coming back. So unless you're stupid enough to build another one for me, it looks like you win this round, Brucey. You fucked everything up for both of us."

"And I would do it all over again."

"Oh shut up, will you?" David's voice comes from the doorway instead of the speakers this time. Robert tries his best to prop himself up, but a morphine drip is starting to prove itself effective. David walks up to his bedside. "You're still trying to pitch this 'holier than thou' shtick. Brucey, you're a terrorist, now. A criminal. If I turn you over to police, you'll spend the rest of your life in a hole."

"Anything to get me away from your…" Robert's eyes start to roll back. He has to fight it, but can't seem to get them under control. "…Your pretentious bull shit."

"Oh no, Brucey," David moves in close as his little brother starts to go under. "You're never getting away from me. You see this machine that's hardwired into your chest-cavity? That's the only thing keeping you alive. I throw a switch—or even tug on this little wire here—and your heart stops beating within a matter of minutes."

Robert feels tears pooling in his eyes. A sob threatens to shake its way out, but he swallows it down. Not in front of David. He can't let him win.

"Do you see it now?" David straightens up. "You're mine. I'm going to keep you here, in my back pocket. When I want something from you, you'll give it to me. When I don't, you'll just lay there and wait for me. Don't like it? Too bad. We've tried every way of working together under the sun, and look where that's got us—well, where it's got _you_."

"I won't let you get away with this," Robert says but his voice gives out.

"I already have."

#

He awakes with no concept of time or day. Looking around there is nothing to demark how long he's been in this bed, but it feels like days. He is held in place by leather bindings around his wrists and ankles. His eyes glance to the wiring in his chest, then to the apparatus overhead; it makes him retch.

He throws his body to one side to vomit on the floor. In the aftermath, he finds one of his hands is loose enough in its bindings to wriggle free.

If he can get one hand free then maybe he could get out of this bed. Trick a nurse, or even knock her out, steal her ID card and make a break for it… "Ha!" Robert laughs at his own train of thought aloud. There is no escape; he's tied to his only lifeline. Even if he could get out, he'd be dead before the elevator made it to the ground floor.

"Dead…"

The word comes out of his mouth for some reason. Suddenly he realizes he's already got his hand free from its binding. He runs his fingers down the wiring and over the machinery in his ribcage. He can feel what amounts to a lockbox in place of his sternum. The sense of metal where flesh ought to be makes his heart flutter which sends spikes of pain through his body in waves.

Is that even his heart? He can't tell. A tear winds its way from the corner of his right eye, into his messy beard. He sniffles once as he closes his hand tightly around the wires. With one swift motion, he'll be free from his brother and this twisted, iron prison.

"Wake up, Bruce Banner!" A voice shouts and freezes him in place.

"I said stop calling me that..." Robert stops speaking when he realizes he didn't hear the voice at all. It's in his head.

"Do you know why your grandfather called your father 'Brucey'?" The voice continues. It is distinctly feminine but not sing song, or light-hearted, containing wisdom and gravitas far beyond Robert's experience. "It's a story I wonder if your brother even knows."

"Who are you?" Robert says, his hand still closed stiffly around the two wires in his chest.

"You may call me the Watcher," she says. "Now, about the name Brucey. What do you know?"

"I am not sure I understand what's happening here. Am I dead?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it, you are not."

"And you are, the Watcher?"

"Not just any watcher, though. I am the greatest of my kind and your world is my proof perfect. That is why I need your help, Bruce Banner."

"Why do you keep calling me by my middle name?" Robert wants to scream, but is paralyzed by the weirdness of what's happening. Maybe he's just lost his mind? Is this how it feels?

"Because, Robert Bruce Banner, you are no Robert Banner." She speaks the words and somehow he finds himself falling through the sky into a world inhabited by his own cloudy memories. He watches as his young-self notices his grandfather's manners. How cruel he is, how rude, how negligent and spiteful. As he grows and learns about the founder of their family's company, he only wants to distance himself more from the memory of the elder Robert Banner.

"He was a hateful wretch, who delighted in seeing his own son fear him. And your father did. Your father, Bruce Banner, was a great man with a brilliant mind, a noble heart and a kind soul. He was also arrogant, prideful and untrustworthy thanks to the influence of his father. Robert called him Brucey to make him feel small, and childish. Even as your father changed the world and made Banner Industries an international success, your grandfather's greatest accomplishment was making his son feel insignificant."

"My father was _never_ insignificant."

"And you are you father's son, as is David. But you, Bruce, are the best of him. Both of you know it, but neither of you truly understand the extent, yet."

"What do you expect me to do about it?" He asks, shaking the wires in his fist. "I'd rather be dead, than live my life as a puppet on the end of David's string."

"You have always been a puppet on the end of David's string."

She says that and he immediately removes his hand from the wires. It's never occurred to him—no, that's not true. He has always known it, but he's never needed to confront it. That was his brother's mistake: in leaving him with nothing, he has nothing left to fear.

"I will have to give him something," he says, as his brain kicks over the beginnings of a plan. "David will never trust me, but he can't say no to a good investment."

"Distract him by giving him what he wants," she says from far away, as though she's receding. "Then you must take everything from him. Leave him utterly broken and defeated. You know what happens when you give a Banner an inch."

"Wait, Watcher, do not leave me yet, I have so many more questions." But she is gone and with her goes Robert Banner Jr., for good.

#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and rating part 3/4 of this origin story. Please leave kudos if you're enjoying and remember to check out part 4!


	4. Iron Man Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Banner sets a trap for his nefarious brother, and assumes the mantle of the Invincible Iron Man!

"My security team says that you are not allowing your nurses access to your lab anymore?" David says as he walks through the sliding metal door into the wrecked lab. "Wait a second," he says when he looks up from his cell phone screen, "what happened in here? Robert, who gave you a computer and what happened to your chest-thingy?"

"It's Bruce now, not Robert. And I made a couple, minor upgrades. I think you'll like them."

Bruce stands from the computer he's working at and pulls off his shirt. Implanted in his chest is a glowing, mini-Arc Reactor, right where his sternum should be. Bruce pats it twice with his open palm then throws his shirt back on. "Sorry about that, I just wasn't able to accomplish much with those wires sticking out of me."

"It appears you've accomplished a lot in the past couple weeks," David's eyes narrow as he speaks. "I think I'm going to have to fire a lot of people. Do you have access to the internet, now, too?"

"No more than a visitor would," Bruce says and wraps an arm around his older brother. He pulls him to the refurbished computer and has David sit down. "I want to show you what I've been working on."

"You built all this from scraps around this lab?" David is still trying to piece it all together as Bruce starts a presentation. David looks as though he wants to leave, but Bruce begs him to stay only a minute.

Bruce pitches an idea to help Banner Industries recover from the loss of the Arc Reactor. He calls it the "H2Own" campaign. It focuses on purchasing threatened or underdeveloped water resources all around the globe, investing in repairing the infrastructure then selling the rights back to local governments and corporations.

"If we do it right, Banner Industries will be leaders in an industry that we create. You think people will pay through the teeth for energy? Just wait till you see what they'll pay for clean, drinkable water."

"And this is viable in how long?" David's skepticism is under attack by his deep-seeded capitalist nature.

Bruce smiles knowingly. "Eighteen months invested, profitable within a year after that."

"You're telling me this will pay for itself in less than three years?" David stands and crosses his arms. "Why isn't anyone else doing this?"

"China, Russia and Israel already are. The U.S. is too, but only the CIA will take credit for it. Nestle foods via Pepsi Co., Coca Cola—do you want me to keep going?"

"Okay, okay," David almost chuckles. "So how do we beat everyone else to these properties?"

"We are Banner Industries," Bruce says and takes a seat on his hospital bed, "who can out-spend us?"

"I'm not saying I trust you," David begins, but shakes his head and smiles. "And I still want to know more about that little thing in your ribs. But, the hell with it, let's say I am interested in this plan of yours, what do you want in return?"

"You kidding me?" Bruce says and crosses his arms this time. "What do you think I want? Freedom. Sunshine. Wind and rain—anything other than twisted steel and this horrible bed. I'm locked in an iron box, piecing together scraps just to get to use Wikipedia when the guards aren't looking. I just want a life, David."

"It'll take some time, I want to run the numbers on this and make sure it's not a trap. Sorry, Brucey, but one juicy piece of meat doesn't make up for the buffet you ruined."

"Then at least give me access to Banner tech, again." Bruce holds out his palms. "I put all this together with basically nothing, just imagine how much more I could give you if I had even one tenth the access I once had. Please, David, I know you don't want me here forever, and if you were going to kill me you would have already. Give me a chance to prove that I'm a Banner."

"Like I said—" David repeats before he walks out, "it'll take some time."

The moment David leaves, Bruce doubles over and vomits on the floor before him. He cries for about an hour afterword; his skin feels like it's going to get up and crawl away from him.

Regardless of his brother's last words, it does not take much time, at all. That same night a security team comes in and disassembles everything Bruce had been working on. The bed, the respirator and monitor, the medical apparatus that kept him alive for his first few days after the explosion, even the makeshift computer station he managed to refurbish: everything goes.

In its place they leave behind a state of the art system with only the most basic allowances built in to it. It's the kind of access that an intern or a data-entry specialist would have. Certainly not the sort of restrictions Bruce ever experienced with his Banner Tech before, but more than enough for his purposes.

Bruce wastes no time importing materials and tech from all over the Banner Empire. He hides his tracks well and hacks anything that stands in his way. He's reckless but not sloppy. He draws attention to himself, but then disappears into the anonymity afforded him as a prisoner in his own company. Within weeks his plan is ready for implementation, but still David has not returned to his lab, and that's the key.

So Bruce begins his final work in the knowledge that it will bring David knocking on his door: he arranges a purchase of one tenth of an ounce of vibranium from S.H.I.E.L.D.. Within twenty-four hours, David and a full squad of security guards fill Bruce's lab, demanding answers.

"Brucey-boy, you've got some explaining to do," David says with his cell phone in hand. "I've got about a thousand emails asking me why Banner Industries has any dealings with an international spy agency. You must think I'm an idiot."

"David, David, no I don't think that." Bruce says and begins to slowly undress. "I know for a fact that you're an idiot. I know it in my heart, in my soul. I've known it almost as long as you have."

"You're a dead man." David points to all the gear in the lab, and his guards start moving to collect it all. "Worse than dead, you're a ghost. You're less than a man. You're a whiff of cloud, a memory that no one will ever remember."

"Lots of mixed metaphors in there, Davey-boy." Bruce removes his shirt last and exposes the Mark—2 chest piece. It is no longer glowing coils of self-sustaining electricity. Now it is a sleek, skillfully forged power oscillator. At its heart is the vibranium core and around the outside, just above the flesh of his chest, resides a series of power output regulators.

"Naked or not, you're going to jail for a long…" David trails off when he sees the upgrade. "This is a trap."

"No," Bruce says with a grin, "this is a demonstration."

"Activate the Iron Legion," David shouts at his head of security. The man scurries off, screaming into his radio.

Bruce pays no attention, he's kept busy by the slate-gray Iron Man suit that rises up from a cavity in the floor. The armor opens from the front and wraps itself around Bruce, covering him from head to toe. When the power from Bruce's chest piece flows through the suit, it comes to life. He feels like he's wearing a second skin, one that's as smart as he is and virtually indestructible.

"What are you?" David shouts up at his younger brother.

Bruce says through the voice modulator in his helmet: "I am Iron Man."

Then he spreads his hands at his side, fires the rocket boosters in them and his feet, and flies through the ceiling like it's made of paper. Bruce veers sharply to the left and out a giant window pane, into the open air high above New York City.

He takes a look around, then realizes he's not alone. A score of bogeys are circling. It's the Iron Legion, using the same tech Bruce cannibalized to create his suit, but lacking the advantage of Bruce Banner's innovation. "Friday, let's give the combat protocols a little workout."

"Yes, boss," the pleasant voice of his trusty A.I. assistant chimes in his head, "combat protocols armed."

Without hesitation, Iron Man flies into combat with the robotic drones. He doesn't have projectiles or bullets of course, but he's faster, lighter, stronger and much smarter than the programming built into the prototype Legion. After decommissioning a couple, they begin to speak to Iron Man in David's voice. "You just love destroying my stuff, don't you Brucey?"

"That's just the thing—" Bruce says has he rips the head off a drone. "None of this stuff is yours. You've never programmed a thing in your life. You've never invented anything, tested anything, or ever designed a single piece of Banner Tech."

He turns the fight around and heads back to his lab on the fiftieth floor of Banner Tower. The Iron Legion follows him in, destroying lots of Banner Industries property as they chase him. When the dust settles, Bruce is face to face with his brother once more.

"Everything with the name Banner on it belongs to me." David is nearly foaming at the mouth. "That includes you, little brother!"

"Friday," Bruce says and turns to watch the Iron Legion arrive, "let's try out the reunion protocol."

"Yes, Mr. Banner," the polite voice chimes in from the speakers overhead. No, not the speakers overhead—from the Iron Legion themselves. The drones immediately stand down and look as though they're waiting on Iron Man for orders. "All systems online. Banner Tech kill-switch engaged."

"What the hell is this?" David rages. "Kill him, kill him now! That's an order."

"David, I've already won." The Iron Man mask opens and Bruce winks. "There isn't a single piece of Banner Tech that hasn't gone past my desk in the past decade and a half. Any good programmer knows to put a backdoor into their tech, for maintenance purposes, usually. In this case, that backdoor has given me complete operational control of Banner Industries, including your secret Iron Legion program."

"How?" David whimpers into his hands. "Do you think I'll let you get away with this?"

"I already have," Bruce says, joyfully. "Friday and I will maintain control of Banner Tech and, in effect, Banner Industries. You will get to stay on as CEO, so long as you never cross me again."

Bruce nods and then a pair of drones grab David by his arms and hold him tight.

"I'd rather be dead."

"I don't doubt that, big brother," Bruce turns away from David as though he no longer cares about him. "But I think I'd rather keep you right here, right in my back pocket. So what you're going to do—after you explain that the damage done to the Banner Tower was a training accident unrelated to the Iron Legion program—is announce that the H2Own campaign will be the first project the Bruce Banner Sr. Foundation invests in."

"And turn it into a NPO?" David tries to pull free from the robots restraining him. "I can't give it all away to charity. I can't, please."

"You can and you will if you want to stay a Banner," Bruce says, then closes his helmet. "Speaking of 'staying,' you're going to need to clear out of the penthouse. That's mine now. Oh and remember—one slip up, one mistake, one clandestine display of disloyalty to the new direction of Banner Industries, and you'll spend the rest of your life wishing I died with the Arc Reactor."

"I do already," David sobs.

"See that?" Bruce replies, "you're already starting to see things my way."

With that, Iron Man looks up to the opening in the ceiling and blasts off.

# The End #

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading and please feel free to leave kudos and comments! If you enjoyed this, make sure you check out Volume 4—Assemble!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and rating part 1/4 of this origin story. Make sure you check out part 2 and leave kudos if you're enjoying!


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